Originally released for the iPhone and iPod touch, Defender Chronicles is a game that mixes the elements of tower defense games, with those of RPG games. Put together, the result is quite odd, it can be fun to play, but some of the parts feel a little disjointed, and overall resulting in a sometimes impossible game.

Gameplay

The game is very much like every other tower defense game in which you put down towers, which kill enemies trying to reach the end of a long road. The difference here is the maps are vertical, rather then top down, and your towers are actually houses which have warriors, mages, and archers in them. Each is upgradeable with the money you earn from killing the enemies. You must survive a preset amount of waves to win, but if too many enemies pass your gate (generally 30 are allowed to pass) you lose.

Now, you have your Hero, which is essentially your character, who guards the gate. After every battle you get Experience points which level up your character. You can then put points into the many different parts of your character, for example his health, or his strength. Another part you can put points into is the effectiveness of the different types of units. So if you like concentrating on one type of unit, it is available for you to do so... though it is highly unwise.

The main issue is the enemy AI setting, which isn?t very balanced. As a result you might get too many enemies suddenly whether or not you are leveled enough to handle them. One wave you could be doing fine with maybe 100 enemies (this isn?t that many really), but next wave you might get almost 5 times as many. To say this makes the gameplay and upgrade planning hard at times is an understatement, even on Normal difficulty setting, and truly is the real problem with the game. Let?s hope that future update will have some tweaks in the AI to be more balanced.

Apart from that though, the game is very enjoyable. It has the potential to be a great TD game.

Graphics & Sound

The graphics are pretty nice, all hand drawn 2D characters, with a lot of variety between characters. Also there are quite a lot of enemy types so everything is pretty varied within the game.

The music in Defender Chronicles HD feels like something out of Lord of the Rings at times, something you really just want to listen to while you play. It matches the tone very well and they even have some unlockable tunes (which are quite awesome at that). Included as well are random soldier sounds, such as ?MAXXIMUMMM LEVEL?! or ?THIS ISNT SPARTA, THIS IS DEFENDER CHRONICLES!? which are quite funny and help give progress updates in battle when you don?t have time to look at a unit?s condition.

Conclusion

Defender Chronicles is a pretty fun game; it?s just a bit aggravating how hard it can get so suddenly. Everything else in the game resonates with a lot of depth, and it all comes together really nicely in the end.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Graphics: - 4 - The graphics are pretty good, the style really goes well with the whole epic theme, and it all comes together really nicely.Sound: - 4.5 - A lot like Lord of the Rings at times, this game truly has an awesome soundtrack. The voices are pretty good as well. Controls: - 5 - Everything is really easy to do. I never had any problems with the controls, and I can?t see anyone else having any problems with this game either.Gameplay: - 3.5 - The game has a lot of content, and its really enjoyable too, if only it wasn?t so hard on even the easier difficulties.

Playing Hints and Tips:

This game requires a lot of practice. It can be disturbing how hard it is on the 4th or 5th level, but trying again and finding that PERFECT strategy is what you gotta do to do well in this game. Remember, even when you lose, you level up, so you don?t entirely lose out when you are faced with defeat.